If I Were 22

"It's miserable and magical, oh yea" 

-Taylor Swift, "22"

Only a few years removed from this lovely, scary, enlightening age, I have found this catchy tune to ring eerily true. It's a wonderful age in so many ways: you get to decide for probably the first time ever, what you actually want your life to look like. But as any double edged sword goes, that means it's you who have to decide where and what your life will look like... which is completely terrifying.

I recently found this series and fell in love. I'm a sucker for advice and am always curious to learn more and what if? This series does just that. It takes nearly a hundred "influencers" in various fields and asks them, "If I Were 22..."

It's incredibly insightful, and I find myself diving down the rabbit hole of knowledge. A few of my favorites include Naomi Simson's, Julia Boorstin's, and Arianna Huffington's. 

From Naomi:

"I worked hard, I was focused, determined and disciplined. But I did not necessarily allow myself the space and time for creativity and self-expression.

I did what was expected of me, not really knowing what I wanted for myself. I had no conscious, mindful inquiry into why I did what I did. But getting me to listen to these ideas would have been a challenge. (I was not famous for my listening in those days.)"

Julia Boorstin at 22, via LinkedIn

From Julia: 

"You never really know what you’ll enjoy doing, or what you’re good at, until you actually do it. In other words, try opportunities that come along, no matter how distant they seem from your plan.

I was dabbling in magazines and within the magazine world I was dabbling in the area of business journalism. And then one day my boss asked me to talk on CNN about an article I'd written, so I began dabbling in television. A few years later, that fun little side gig yielded a job offer from CNBC to be an on-air correspondent."

Arianna Huffington at 22, via LinkedIn

 From Arianna:

"Surely getting by on less sleep and constant-multi-tasking are an express elevator to the top, right?

This couldn’t be less true. And for far too long, we have been operating under a collective delusion – that burning out is the necessary price for achieving success.

I wish I had known this when I was 22. I’m convinced I would have achieved all I have achieved with less stress, worry and anxiety. In college, just before I embarked on a career as a writer, I wish I had known that there would be no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and my ability to do good work. I wish I could go back and tell myself, “Arianna, your performance will actually improve if you can commit to not only working hard, but also unplugging, recharging and renewing yourself.” That would have saved me a lot of unnecessary stress, burnout and exhaustion."

Like my girl Giuliana says:

"Everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end yet."